The unauthorized upload of address-book contacts through mobile apps forms...
The unauthorized upload of address-book contacts through mobile apps forms the basis of a lawsuit seeking class-action status in the U.S. District Court in Austin. Thirteen people alleged (http://xrl.us/bmyfs8) that mobile apps Path, Foursquare, Rovio, Gowalla and Instagram, as well…
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as Twitter, Apple, Facebook, Yelp, LinkedIn and Electronic Arts, among others, “have unfortunately made, distributed and sold mobile software applications ... that, once installed on a wireless mobile device, surreptitiously harvest, upload and illegally steal the owner’s address book data without the owner’s knowledge or consent. ... The surreptitious data uploads,” occurring over cellular and open networks across the U.S., “have, quite literally, turned the address book owners’ wireless mobile devices into mobile radio beacons broadcasting and publicly exposing” the data “to the world.” The plaintiffs in Opperman v. Path want a permanent injunction against the defendants’ collecting practices, deletion of collected data and monetary relief. Path CEO Dave Morin has apologized for the app’s “Add Friends” feature, which didn’t ask for user consent, and House Commerce Committee Democratic leaders have asked Apple to explain its iOS developer policies in the wake of the Path admission.